On December 14, at the Sandy Hawk School in Newtown (USA), a young man armed with pistols and a gun shot teachers and students — 27 people died, 20 of whom were children. The next day, an appeal appeared on the network, in which part of the responsibility for the repetition of executions lies with the media. We turned to experts for comment.
What is happening to all of us — why are mass shootings happening more and more often and not only in the USA? And can we stop the killers? The day after the tragedy, an appeal appeared on Facebook (an extremist organization banned in Russia) on behalf of the famous actor Morgan Freeman, in which the media were partially responsible for repeating the tragedies. This post caused a great resonance on the network: in less than a day, about 40 likes, 000 reposts. Discussions around him do not subside even after it turned out that Morgan Freeman did not say anything of the sort.
And yet, is there any rational grain in this statement? Will today’s herostrates have less motive for shooting if their names and faces are not endlessly flashed in the media? Expert comments.
Maria Falikman, cognitive psychologist, leading researcher at the HSE Cognitive Research Laboratory: I don’t think this statement makes any sense at all. But I wouldn’t put all the blame on the media. Glory can hardly be the main motive for such crimes. Deprive a potential aggressor of the opportunity to become famous — he will find another motive. Here it is not a matter of motive, but of a mental or social deviation. However, the media really act as a catalyst: they speed up the already ongoing processes, give someone the idea: “maybe I can do that too?”. What can be done? Do not add fuel to the fire, do not focus on the identity of the killers. It is necessary to talk about the tragedy. But it is important to shift the emphasis so that it does not repeat itself.
Farit Safuanov, Doctor of Psychology, Head of the Department of Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Faculty of Legal Psychology, MSUPE: It is a gross exaggeration that mass murderers seek fame in this way. The psychological mechanisms in these cases relate primarily to the reaction of the aggressor to the situation in the social environment, most often in the immediate environment.
This may be revenge on the society of a person who has formed a «misanthropic» worldview (it can be expressed in hatred of certain social, ethnic and other groups). As a rule, people who commit such crimes are emotionally cold and rational. Another option is that in the conditions of a long-term psycho-traumatic situation (bullying at school, hazing in the army), an emotionally sensitive, vulnerable person can accumulate tension, which eventually finds a release in aggressive destructive actions. Victims can be both people whose behavior (indirectly) caused a stressful situation, and those with whose tacit consent the future aggressor became an «outcast». And a completely different story, when massacres are committed by persons with mental disorders.
I agree: the media could indeed become a powerful means of preventing such crimes. In particular, if they paid more attention to the innocent victims, rather than focusing on the personality of the perpetrator. Victims of aggression are not just a list of class students or teachers. These are people, each with their own unique destiny, with their own plans for the future. And the depersonalization (deindividualization) of the victim is one of the factors facilitating the manifestation of violence.”